Men's soccer: No. 7 Wake Forest handles No. 4 Louisville

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Seventh-ranked Wake Forest men's soccer earned a 2-1 victory Saturday night at Spry Stadium over No. 4 Louisville to pull into a tie at the top of the ACC Atlantic standings with the Cardinals with two conference games to go.

Overall, the Demon Deacons are now 10-2-2 on the season and 4-1-1 in ACC play. Louisville dropped its second game in a row for the first time this season after falling Tuesday night to Indiana and now stands at 9-3-2 overall and 4-1-1 in the ACC. Wake Forest has now won at least 10 games in a season each of the last five years and in 21 of the last 23 seasons.

Jacori Hayes got the Deacs on the board in the 24th minute when he one-timed a shot into the top-right corner past Louisville goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland. Ian Harkes served a ball into the box on a free kick and it bounced around before Sam Raben could punch it out to Hayes just inside the top of the box.

The Demon Deacons extended the advantage just two minutes into the second half when Ema Twumasi drew a PK after he was taken down in the box. For the third game in a row, Ian Harkes stepped up to take the penalty and he went right as the keeper guessed wrong to make it 2-0. All three of Harkes' goals this season have come on penalty kicks, as he tallied last time out against Marshall and on Sept. 6 against Appalachian State.

Four minutes later in the 51st minute, Louisville cut the lead in half when Cherif Dieye took a ball down the middle of the field and beat Wake Forest goalkeeper Alec Ferrell to the left side of goal.

With the win, Wake Forest moved to 9-0-1 on the season when scoring first. The Deacs are now also 7-2-0 in one-goal games while moving to 5-0-1 when scoring two goals in a contest.

The Wake Forest victory ensured no team would go unbeaten in ACC play this season, as Louisville was the last team without a loss in conference play entering Saturday's game. Last season, Wake Forest went 6-0-2 in ACC play en route to the regular-season crown.

Throughout the evening at Spry Stadium, fans were able to bid on the players' game-worn, pink jerseys. All proceeds from the silent auction went to Susan G. Komen. In all, the Deacs raised $2,750 in the auction for the foundation.